Hm, I don’t think it’s that we’re proud, it’s more that we have H&M everywhere and have had it for a long time, so we have developed like a sixth sense of how to wear an stunning outfit with exclusively H&M clothes. Or, at least the girls have, H&M for men still sucks.

Caro Sarto, here in Milano this great trench was sold out IMMEDIATELY and I could not get one. I think h&m is really great in clothing, but only if mixed with higher level accessories…You make always great pictures. bravo bravissimo sartorialissimo

oh, stockholm is so beatiful. what a scenery! and all the people there are so beautiful, maybe that is why they look so efortlessly stylish. If you live there, I guess you become ‘blind’ to this fact after a while..

Music lessons. You’re giving us music lessons. I know what I like when I hear it, but I can’t talk about it because I don’t know the terms – and I can’t play it very well because I didn’t get enough lessons – and I certainly can’t write it for myself!

But the Sartorial Symphony going on at this blog is simply perfect. First we get the music and comment by the maestro, and then the discussion by the crowd made of varying degrees of expertise (and tact). I love this!

Thank you for my daily dose of music appreciation from all over the world.

Interesting that you should mention the fashion viability of the gap in the 90′s then say, “Well, I guess I will always have J. Crew”. Mickey Drexler was at the helm of the Gap in the 90′s. Guess where he is now? Yup. J. Crew.

H&M is one of my all-time fave stores! I have now returned to Singapore from the UK and am sorely missing it. So many of the fab pieces that my friends have complimented me on come from there. It’s the great range of styles at amazing prices that i love about it most. At least i still have Topshop. If you know or meet the H&M people, would you please tell them to open a store in Singapore? Thanks!

I’m not crazy about the trench, though, particularly on her and think that frankly Viktor & Rolf are more hype than anything. Speaking of J. Crew, you can most of what V&R have on offer from J. Crew for hundreds of dollars less.

I think a trench with a heart for a belt buckle would be more interesting if worn by some punk looking woman with, say, her hair died black and facial piercing. Here, it’s too cute-sy.

Has Gap / Banana Republic ever “looked really great” … I just can’t understand American stores like Gap, B.Rep, J Crew, A&F, Armani Exchange etc … the clothes are just so vile & totally not fitted … It’s little wonder they’ve never bn opened in Europe other than Gap b/c europeans have always bn used to zara, h&m, top shop etc… all as cheap but in a totally different league in the style stakes …

The trench coat is cute but I’m not crazy about this color.Also, I wouldn’t compare Gap/J Crew/Banana with H&M. Gap/J Crew/Banana have always been pretty boring but it’s good to go there if you need the basics, say, an inexpensive but decent shirt to wear on weekends. H&M is trying to be ‘edgy’, I guess, but the problem I have with it is the quality of their clothes. It’s so poor that I’m not even tempted by their low prices. I guess, it’s a good store for teenagers, who don’t want/need their clothes to last more than a season. H&M designer events are somewhat more interesting, though; I even got 2 pairs of pants from Stella and V&R.

oh Scott please try out H&M. you have to tackle it in a certain way. first you walk and you begin to tremble by the size, but you gotta quickly go through all the racks and just start picking up what you like. and then you got to make a more deliberate second time through the racks really looking at the clothing and pick up those as well. you’ll be presently surprised once you enter the dressing room. :-)

what anonymous said about music lessons…oh…so true…so true… your photos display TIME och CUT and…well..FASHION. in the true meaning of the word. I never wonder “where did she get this or that” it is not about the items, it is about how they play together with the wearer and the background. with your photos I just see time in front of me. the unknown, forgotten time. lovely.

Oh, I love this coat! I got it in black here in NYC and wear it all the time (after replacing the heart buckles with something a bit more age-appropriate, that is). I’m not an H&M fan in general, but this trench is beautifully designed and surprisingly well made.

I haven’t been to American H&M stores before, but I know that Canadian H&M is not very impressive at all. The stores, like you said are huge and trashy looking. It has an air of cheepness about it that might be just the right about of kitch for a hipster but is not especially classy or sophisticated.

We are getting our very first H&M store in Calgary, AB Canada and I am pretty excited. Hopefully I won’t be disappointed. I love the trench coat been looking for a nice fitted one for awhile. I would wear it with a pencil skirt.

there isn’t h&m in kuala lumpur. there is gap, but i am not crazy over that label. banana is opening soon, but let’s see how far it will do. at the moment, we got only zara to depend on, and amen to that!

When I was a teenager, in the early-mid 90′s, wearing something from H&M was borderline embarrassing. It was the kind of store your mom would drag you to. Granted, it’s still considered cheap throwaway wear, but the general perception of, and attitude towards, H&M has changed so much in just a decade. Now everyone wears it, even the cool cats won’t hesitate to mix it up with a few H&M pieces.

I love her smile — it really makes her look. I’m a 40-something mother of two who recently discovered the pleasures of the smaller H&M in San Francisco. There are some gems to be discovered (of the Vanessa Bruno- and Cacharel-esque sort) once you focus and filter out the club music.

I really like this girl’s outfit! The trench looks fresh on her and the shoes are great too.

I also like the fact that she smiles, because it feels like smiling is “out” in fashion; on catwalks and in fashion magazines they all look so dead serious (not always, but most of the time)…so it’s refreshing to see a happy face :)

my biggest problem with H&M, that they are so full with clothes, that I never find THAT piece I look for. I always wonder seeing girls with huge mass of clothes in their hands, and I just stand there, seeing only trash.Or it is not H&M’s fault but mine?Hopefully I can improve by visiting Mr Sart’s blog regularly.

if only they made more of that trench! it sold out in seconds. People stand in line, buy EVERYTHING in site, and then put it up on Ebay. It’s not fair to those of us who really love fashion + are genuinely interested in Stella + Victor & Rolf and aren’t just out to make a buck.

I’m in Canada but I suspect our H&M experience is similar to the New York one. I find that even in one city, different H&M locations can carry different stock and have quite a different feel from each other. Also, like other people have pointed out, you really have to be willing to take your time and look thoroughly.

A lot of their stuff is cheap, but I have found several gems there, mostly jackets.

I love H&M. We have a pretty nice one here in downtown DC – much less hectic than the ones in NYC and a pretty decent men’s section. Many posters are right, much of it is “disposable” clothing, but that’s ok, since you can get one season out of it then have an excuse to “refresh” the wardrobe. Sizing is all over the map, so you have to try everything on, but when you find something you like you really can’t beat the price.

You should give H&M another chance. I felt the same way you did when the first large, messy store opened in Chicago. But the more I spent time in there, the more I found AWESOME stuff I adore and still wear today. The thing is you really need to take your time and dig through everything in there, like a treasure hunt. But most people don’t have the time, so it’s understandable. YOU ROCK SART!

The only reason H&M's are messy in the US is the people. Americans/most of them have no respect for money and they tend to destroy the merchandise in bigger stores while looking for what they want. It's a common simptom with developed/rich countries. Well, Sweden is one of the richest countries but they have an innate common sense.So if you want give H&M's a chance in Europe.